Knock your socks off

[DRColby]

Rummaging around the remains of the garden yesterday I dug up a couple of horseradish roots. Ground them up, added a little white vinegar and some salt.

I started crying when I began grinding, and the tears really flowed when I taste the stuff... knock your socks off.

I was going to feed this to my wife today (we both like horseradish) for a Valentine's Day dinner of beef. But after thinking about it , I am affraid I's lose her, iron gut and all.

Perhaps it will tone down in time for St. Patrick's Day? How do you mellow it out without adding mayo?

I was once in a spice store and guy in front of me bought two pounds of cayanne. Nosey me asked what he was doing will all that: "I add it to horseradish I grind and give it for Christmas presents".... Guy must not have any friends left... Ain't going that way, for sure.

dave

[mrbigjas]

Let it sit out; it'll mellow.

[gus_tatory]

DRColby:

i had the same experience this summer at my Mom's farm. i decided to dig up some horseradish. i'll spare you the tedious details of how hard it is to dig and clean and prepare, but the oils are volatile and can irritate skin, eyes, etc.

bottom line: the stuff you already have--let it sit out as mrbigjas says, or add mayo or yogurt, sour cream.

my one experience with 'cultivating' horseradish was enough to convince me there's a reason it's sold in bottles for 2$. now i buy the bottles.

[Jason Perlow]

Horseradish is fantastic when grated and mixed in with mayonnaise and some french mustard (I like Maille or Grey Poupon). Slather onto toast points and use as a sandwich base for some nice sliced rare roast beef, or even better, on a roll with a nice medium rare burger.

[tsquare]

I was going to feed this to my wife today (we both like horseradish) for a Valentine's Day dinner of beef.

Funny, that's what I had today! But the horseradish came out of a jar. Used the boiled beef recipe from Marcella Cuisina.

[KatieLoeb]

The fresh ground stuff won't kill you, but the just-dug-up-from-the-garden-and-fresh-ground stuff will definitely kill you!

I wear ski goggles when shredding and chopping horseradish in my food processor. Really. Taking the top off the processor is akin to setting off a tear gas bomb in your own home.

I've found horseradish roots to be similar to chile peppers. The smaller they are, the meaner they are. Those pencil thin roots from your garden will blow the doors off the big tree trunk roots you see at the supermarket. A little tiny bit of the homegrown/homemade goes a very long way.

Instead of serving it au naturel at its present inedible strength, why don't you just make a horseradish mayo or some type of sauce with it to mellow it out. Letting it sit out and effectively go "stale" so it isn't as sinus-stripping seems to be defeating the purpose of bothering to make "fresh" horseradish to me. Might as well buy the jarred stuff.

[Pan]

I don't understand the advocacy of mixing horseradish with mayonnaise, partly because the idea is so un-Jewish and I associate horseradish with Passover. Many of you know that it's traditional among Jews to mix horseradish with beets (the mixture is called Chrein). Horseradish is also good pureed by itself and put on fish and such-like. I don't think it's necessary to mix it with mayonnaise.

[Mabelline]

There's a place called Tulelake where they have a Horseradish Festival...get this ..one of their events is to close a feller up in a phone booth and see how long he can take it while grinding horseradish...longest time wins I sure am glad Montana only has testicle festivals...

[Katherine]

I knew a guy who put horseradish in his guacamole. It tasted so bizarre that the first time, none of us could figure out what he'd done to it.

[KatieLoeb]

I don't understand the advocacy of mixing horseradish with mayonnaise, partly because the idea is so un-Jewish and I associate horseradish with Passover. Many of you know that it's traditional among Jews to mix horseradish with beets (the mixture is called Chrein). Horseradish is also good pureed by itself and put on fish and such-like. I don't think it's necessary to mix it with mayonnaise.

Michael:

I thought Chrein was ground prepared (with vinegar and salt) horseradish whether it was white OR red. But perhaps I'm mistaken. I thought Chrein was just the German for horseradish. Or perhaps (like many other things) it depends where one's family is from?

In Bavaria/Austria fresh horseradish is ground or shredded into applesauce to be served on the side of boiled beef or pork chops. This is a VERY good use for the fresh root. I've done this with bottled unsweetened applesauce and it's quite tasty and very very easy.

[bloviatrix]

My eyes are tearing just reading this thread.

My mil grates her own horseradish every year at Passover. She also scarfs the stuff down -- it has absolutely no effect on her. On the otherhand, just looking at the stuff makes my eyes water. But it tastes so good.

[Mabelline]

Katie, my stepgrandfather was a German, and do you know, I had never remembered that horseradish in applesauce till I read your post!! Amazing...when I was real little,he and I would eat together in the pantry before we walked to the back pastures to get the cows in the morning, and we would eat some of whatever was there...pie, ice cream, liverwurst, onion slices, that applesauce;WOW, what a flashback!! Johnnycake with horseradish applesauce. He had been a baker in Germany, and I remember big ole slabs of fresh bread spread with sweet butter, pepper, and sliced radishes....Oh thank you!!

Edited February 15, 2004 by Mabelline (log)

[KatieLoeb]

Katie, my stepgrandfather was a German, and do you know, I had never remembered that horseradish in applesauce till I read your post!! Amazing...when I was real little,he and I would eat together in the pantry before we walked to the back pastures to get the cows in the morning, and we would eat some of whatever was there...pie, ice cream, liverwurst, onion slices, that applesauce;WOW, what a flashback!! Johnnycake with horseradish applesauce. He had been a baker in Germany, and I remember big ole slabs of fresh bread spread with sweet butter, pepper, and sliced radishes....Oh thank you!!

Mabelline:

Glad I could stir up a happy memory for you. I bet that spicy applesauce was delicious with the liverwurst! I think I have to go feed this jones and test my theory first thing tomorrow!

[Jason Perlow]

I don't understand the advocacy of mixing horseradish with mayonnaise, partly because the idea is so un-Jewish and I associate horseradish with Passover. Many of you know that it's traditional among Jews to mix horseradish with beets (the mixture is called Chrein). Horseradish is also good pureed by itself and put on fish and such-like. I don't think it's necessary to mix it with mayonnaise.

Actually, it took me years to get over my hatred of horseradish, because I think Ashkenaze Passover food is absolutely abyssmal, with the rare exception of Matzo Ball Soup and Potato Kugel. In fact, I think -most- Ashkenaze high holiday food is abyssmal. Give me Sephardic preparations any day. The very association of horseradish with that holiday gives me the heebie jeebies.

I VASTLY prefer the gentile, British preparation of serving it with mayo and red meat. When I first had it this way, it was a godsend. Yes, horseradish can actually be good.

Gold's horseradish on the other hand.. feh.

[Mabelline]

Total agreement here. A noble condiment. And shall we say limited to no bad end results? Katie, was it you that had the teen glom onto a bottle of that at the holidays?

[DRColby]

This I do know: when I dug the roots I by no means got all of them (You can never get rid of horseradish. It's kind of like dandilions). I recently planted grapes closeby the horseradish.

After reading about the applesauce-horseradish I am wondering what I will come up with when the grape roots and horseradish intermingle. A new Korean food cloning?

dave

[Katherine]

This I do know: when I dug the roots I by no means got all of them (You can never get rid of horseradish. It's kind of like dandilions).  I  recently planted  grapes closeby the horseradish. 

    After reading  about the applesauce-horseradish I am wondering what I will come up with when the grape roots and horseradish intermingle.  A new Korean food cloning?

dave

The presence of horseradish among your grapevines will neither result in a new form of life nor a new victual, owing to the fact that the plants are too unrelated to cross-breed. The horseradish may, however, compete with the grapevines and cause them to have a smaller or inferior crop, and it will definitely become impossible to dig them without risking damage to the root systems of your grapevines.

I suggest you try to confine them to a safer location, and treat the others, cruelly, as weeds.

[Mudpuppie]

The presence of horseradish among your grapevines will neither result in a new form of life nor a new victual, owing to the fact that the plants are too unrelated to cross-breed. The horseradish may, however, compete with the grapevines and cause them to have a smaller or inferior crop, and it will definitely become impossible to dig them without risking damage to the root systems of your grapevines.

I suggest you try to confine them to a safer location, and treat the others, cruelly, as weeds.

I don't know -- I'm looking out my window right now at my neighbor's grapevines. They have conquered her house and are trying to conquer mine. The vines run the length of her property and grow up onto a 4' trellis on her roof. They have choked the life out of the peach tree in my backyard (didn't trim them soon enough) and they have felled my neighbor's TV antenna.

I realize it's a race between the grapevines and the horseradish to see who gets established first, but once that happens, my money's on the grapes.

[Katherine]

The presence of horseradish among your grapevines will neither result in a new form of life nor a new victual, owing to the fact that the plants are too unrelated to cross-breed. The horseradish may, however, compete with the grapevines and cause them to have a smaller or inferior crop, and it will definitely become impossible to dig them without risking damage to the root systems of your grapevines.

I suggest you try to confine them to a safer location, and treat the others, cruelly, as weeds.

I don't know -- I'm looking out my window right now at my neighbor's grapevines. They have conquered her house and are trying to conquer mine. The vines run the length of her property and grow up onto a 4' trellis on her roof. They have choked the life out of the peach tree in my backyard (didn't trim them soon enough) and they have felled my neighbor's TV antenna.

I realize it's a race between the grapevines and the horseradish to see who gets established first, but once that happens, my money's on the grapes.

I guess that would have to depend on where you live and the type of grapes that are planted. Viticulture is exacting, if you want a quality crop. Wild (or feral) grapes are not.

[Mabelline]

Boy, that's almost too sci-fi, dear child. But it reminds me of the mustang grapes down home. Oak trees just covered with grapes, like kudzu with berries ( thank the gods they don't grow that fast, or we would have to send search and rescue in there.)

Would horseradish affect the flavor of the grapes, I wonder?

[DRColby]

I guess that would have to depend on where you live and the type of grapes that are planted.  Viticulture is exacting, if you want a quality crop. Wild (or feral) grapes are not

These are an Oregon-grown seedless grape that sold for $4.95 at Fred Meyer. They are next to the neighbor's fence (they're in Arizona and haven't checked out what I am up to), and close to Puget Sound, where once the great Island Belle variety thrived on Grapeview Island when fruit wines were still in vogue.

Meanwhile in the Spring - after a nice Valentine's Day - an old man's (that's me) hopes turn to Spring and potential new feed from the grapes for the birds, to keep them out of my blueberries and raspberries. And, meanwhile, the horseradish lurks away growing deep in the heart of Winter.

dave

[Katherine]

I guess that would have to depend on where you live and the type of grapes that are planted.  Viticulture is exacting, if you want a quality crop. Wild (or feral) grapes are not

These are an Oregon-grown seedless grape that sold for $4.95 at Fred Meyer. They are next to the neighbor's fence (they're in Arizona and haven't checked out what I am up to), and close to Puget Sound, where once the great Island Belle variety thrived on Grapeview Island when fruit wines were still in vogue.

Meanwhile in the Spring - after a nice Valentine's Day - an old man's (that's me) hopes turn to Spring and potential new feed from the grapes for the birds, to keep them out of my blueberries and raspberries. And, meanwhile, the horseradish lurks away growing deep in the heart of Winter.

dave

Come spring, prune your grapes sternly to improve quality of the fruit produced. Don't let them run rampant and take over, they'll expend their energy on leaves, rather than fruit.

Prunings can be used for stuffed grape leaves and wreaths.

[gus_tatory]

I don't understand the advocacy of mixing horseradish with mayonnaise, partly because the idea is so un-Jewish and I associate horseradish with Passover.

here's the part i'm not 'getting':

mayonnaise isn't dairy, right? so why is it so "un-Jewish"?

simply asking 'cause i don't know.

[Katherine]

[not Jewish]I had horseradish mixed with salted unsweetened whipped cream, served over rare roast beef that made a defining culinary experience. [/not Jewish]

[Pan]

I don't understand the advocacy of mixing horseradish with mayonnaise, partly because the idea is so un-Jewish and I associate horseradish with Passover.

here's the part i'm not 'getting':

mayonnaise isn't dairy, right? so why is it so "un-Jewish"?

simply asking 'cause i don't know.

It's just like white bread is un-Jewish. There's nothing treyf (forbidden for being not kosher) about white bread; we just don't eat it. I actually can enjoy mayonnaise made from scratch, but I've never had maror (bitter herbs, usually meaning horseradish) with it.